I set this round bale of straw down after the big snow. We had a big melt this past week and all the snow around it melted, leaving the bale sitting on its own block of ice. It got me to thinking about the insulating properties of straw.

There is an old building on my Dad’s home farm. The building is called the Icehouse. Back in the days before rural electrification, people would cut chunks of ice out of lakes or streams and put the ice into their icehouse. Then they would insulate the ice with wood shavings or straw.

People had an Icebox in their house to keep food and beverages cool. There was a place to put a block of ice. When one block of ice melted, they would go get another one. Maybe you’ve heard someone refer to the refrigerator as the icebox.

In Henry David Thoreau’s classic, “Walden,” he tells about the time he let a young man warm up in his cabin. He had fallen in the cold water of Walden Pond when he was out cutting ice.

Thoreau provides details about the process of cutting out ice, which he observed 100 men doing over a span of 16 days. They made a stack of ice weighing 10 tons. They covered the stack with hay and boards for insulation, and didn’t open until July. Even after it was exposed to the air and sunshine, Thoreau says the stack didn’t fully melt until September of the following year.

Timothy is one of my favorite grasses. I mix its small seeds in with alfalfa, when I’m planting the new hay seeding in the spring. Look at the broad, beautiful leaves. Look at the seedheads, covered in pollen.

My favorite poet is Robert Frost. I plan on writing a post, inspired by one of his poems. The first person to guess which poem, will win a $25 gift certificate to Kiva. One guess per person. The poem is not “Mending Wall.” I’ll give you a hint, the post is about genetics. Good luck!

School started two hours late today, let out an hour early. My 4-wheel drive SUV made it half-way down my quarter-mile lane before the snow proved too deep. My Dad pulled me out with the tractor, and pulled us back in. It’s supposed to start snowing again tonight, with wind. If you want to visit, and you don’t have a snowmobile, you’re going to be walking. We’re stuck.

I’m stuck with this blog, and having trouble getting restarted. There is a reason I post every week, and it’s not because of popular demand. It’s how I’m wired. I like starting every day with chores.

And so, I’m publicly announcing my intention to post every week, even though I still feel stuck.

I think this blog works best when I’m answering a question. Some questions I want to answer:

How much wood does my outdoor wood boiler use?

How much fuel does my farm use?

What is the feed efficiency of my hogs from 250 to 300 lbs.?

Why can hogs digest acorns without processing?

How long did the “wild west” last? Side note: I think a major contributor to the wild west was post-traumatic stress disorder from the civil war veterans.

Another thing I want to look at more closely is how a square foot of land changes throughout the year. I think I know, but forcing myself to look every week, and take a picture, may prove eye-opening.